When the Singapore government decided to ease regulations on the hiring of foreign workers so that employers can fill up those nagging job vacancies, there was much cheer and giety.

It was a roaring Singapore before the financial crisis hit in 2007 and everyone felt that this was the right thing to do.

There was also full employment and no one paid the matter any attention as all along foreign workers have worked alongside us all this while.

No one also really knows how many foreigner imports will be let in until they saw the congested trains and swarmed shopping malls. Singapore is not the same again after 2008…

To the the employers, it is almost like receiving a big ang pow from the government without having to do much. Some I know went through their headcount immediately to see who they can replace with S-Pass work permit foreigners.

Those locals workers that earn alot through their years of service and experience were targetted for replacement. Unfortunately, the floodgates were still open when the financial crisis hit us in 2007 with adverse repercussion. Many have been replaced by foreign workers when the financial crisis hit us in 2007. By then, lowering labor cost becomes a very real issue and having foreigners become almost a must-have agenda on every employers’ to-do list. If not, the business may just sink.

Most businesses can only have a foreign worker quota of 25% of the company’s total workforce. However, companies in the marine or construction sectors can have a higher quota due to their industry type as Singaporeans tend to shy away from such menial work.

However, we have heard by now how the local companies work their way around the foreign worker quota system by artificially implanting local workers in their company. They are merely phantom workers, even paid CPF monies in their account and are used as a headcount so that more foreign workers can be employed. Thus, in some restaurants, it is not surprisng to see many foreigners working with no local workers in sight.

By now, you would have hear of someone being replace by a foreign worker. It could even be yourself reading this article right now. The after effect of globilisation? Don’t count on it…

Let us look at the eight reason why our local bosses will always hire foreign imports over our own locally-bred PMETs:

1. Cost

To the employers, cost is the number one factor when they run a business. and this could not be disputed. So when the government sets up a sytem whereby the boss can hire cheaper foreign imports base on a quota system, you can understand why he will grab it with both hands. Many are counting how many foreign workers they can bring in base on the type of business that they are in and the number of current local workers under their payroll.

S-Pass work permit holders only requires a base salary of $1800 plus levy and no CPF. The levy fee varies with specific industry and average around $200 per month payable to our government. It is not surprising to note that the S-Pass work permit visa fee is a huge cash cow for the government during these few years. Several hundreds of millions of dollars in visa fees must have been paid to the government by now.

Most S-Pass work permit visa, more importantly, also comes with the promise that the employers will help them get their coveted permanent resident visa. To third world countries’ citizens like India and China, Singapore is a dream country to move out to and gain a steady foothold on. It will be foolish if the person does not grab the golden opportunity even though the offer salary is only $1800.

You can also imagine how much a company can save if he can replace just five local staff with foreigners who earns a salary of $1800 each. Most local university graduates command a starting salary of at least $2500. The costing effect is just too much to ignore here.

During the recent recession, I heard of many companies replacing their local staff with foreigner ones. No job is spared and there is no mercy here. Now you can understand why the locals are not opening embracing our foreigner counterparts with open arms. I am actually amazed that there is no reported arts of violence against foreigners in our country yet. In Australia, foreigners are reportedly been attacked as they are deemed to steal away the locals’ jobs.

2. Better Worker

To the employer, Singaporean workers though articulate and smart, sometimes talk back too much. They tend to argue back especially if they have work long and gain a good standing with the rest of the staff.

The Singaporean worker also likes to job hop for the slightest reason. When they want a salary raise and could not get it soon, they will start to look around. When they are most needed, they may also file in their resignation letter the next day. Worse of all, they often don’t come cheap.

The foreign worker will not have such issues. They will just come in and simply work as if their life depends on it.

3. Foreign Connections

I actually heard from some bosses how they try to benefit from the foreign workers’ business connection back home. This company may be exploring overseas business ventures and will not mind having his office staffed with foreign workers of a few nationalities. Thus, foreign workers with solid working experience in their own countries are held in high regard here esspecially for companies who are starting to explore overseas ventures. It makes sense to have a Indian staff working in your office when you are trying to do business in either Calcutta or New Delhi.

4. Scams and schemes

One of the worst offspring of the whole foreign worker saga is the exploitation of work permit visas issued by our Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Any registered companies have access to a certain quota of worker permit holders. What we are witnessing is perhaps the largest human trafficking scam that we have seen in modern days. The most frustrating thing is that it is all supposed to be legalised and legitimate.

Construction companies with a higher foreigner worker quota were set up almost overnight with the main aim of fleecing foreigners to come and work here at very high premium agent fee (between $5000 to $8000). Many foreigners borrowed from loan sharks back home to accomplish their dream of coming here to make a pile to bring home with them. Due to the high exchange rate, what they earn here in a year can only be earned in ten years back home. Singapore lures even though the job is labour-intensive and sometimes dangerous. Many construction workers died building our infrastructures which we boasted.

Hundreds of millions of dollars changed hands when bogus construction companies with no job availability brought in thousands of workers and housed them in shanty squatters. Many worked less than a week in a month if they are lucky. The scheme made instant millionaires out of the shady business owners who are out to exploit the foreign workers right under the eyes of MOM.

I also heard of a restaurant owner who could issue S-Pass work permit to any foreigner who meets all the criterion issued by MOM. The problem is he will not pay out any salary for the first year though it is in the contract as he pays for the worker’s levy, board and lodging (normally four to a HDB room) and other administrative costs. I heard and confirmed with a few other business owners that this is the acceptable contractual terms for any foreigner on our coveted S-Pass work permit. Restaurants are the main culprits of this unethical practice as they come in by the thousands hungry for work and a better future.

Employment agents who bring in foreigner workers for employers also make a pile when they collect high incentives from both the workers and the employers’ side. This almost sidelined the local workers from the employment scene.

It is almost unbelievable that such errant employment practices could happen right under our government nose! It is only recently that the government has hauled up a few of such errant agents and employers for persecution under the law when hundreds are already flouting the law the past few years.

5. Companies with foreigners seem hip

Local small and medium companies staffed with local employees all along now can seize the opportunity to improve their work force by injecting some foreign manpower. Thinking that foreign means better, they target slackers or high earning PMETs and replace them with foreign workers.

In Singapore, previously, foreign workers either means manual workers such as domestic maids or construction workers or the high-end expats that earn tens of thousands of dollars. There is hardly any in-between until the S-Pass work permit comes into the picture few years ago to meet the shortfall in workers here. That present almost instant competition for the average Singaporeans.

Unfortunately, I have heard of companies with foreigner imports regretting their new prizes as they fail to impress with their work performances and know-how. Cheap does not mean better it seems.

6. Foreigner – More Than Just A Worker

We all know by now that the huge influx of foreigner workers is a huge national plot by the government to artificially inflate the dwindling population of our country. The intended country’s target is 6.5 million population. One in three of our population eventually will be a foreigner.

Businesses from government linked companies (GLC) to small and medium companies (SME) have no choice but to compliant. I am sure that big companies have a certain foreigner quota to fill even at the expense of locals losing their jobs.

I knew of GLC not renewing contracts of local workers just to fill in their foreigner worker quota. High end workers are also not spared the foreigner chop. I knew of a architect with a master degree in architecture who has to go as her contract was not renewed. She has to hand over her job to a Indian archtect. She is now working in China and may not want to return to Singapore anytime soon. When our local citizens have to give up their jobs to their foreigner counterparts so that the population growth is seen to be on target, something is definitely wrong here.

Migration among the local population is also seen as the highest during this five-year period in view of the drive by our government to step up foreign imports. It is strange that the locals are leaving the richest nation in the region. It goes to show that economic prowess may not be everything.

The way the government bulldozed its way to boost up the population growth may result in serious repercussion in the future. Social crime is on the rise and many Singaporeans now prefer their children not to return home too late at night. They are also advised not to loiter in areas that contain foreign enclaves. Integration programmes may have come too late now.

7. Political Agenda

Of course, there is the rumour that the government wants to fill up our population with foreign-born citizens so that when elections ar here, they will pledge allegiance with the one that provides for them.

I find this reason somewhat difficult to believe.

All along, the government enjoys almost a clean sweep of the seats except for two. There is no reason for the government to desperately bring in hundreds of thousands of foreigners yearly so that they can win the next election. Moreover, the government could not arm twist their new citizens to vote for them even though they have provide them the citizenship rights. So this theory does not hold water for me.

8. Forming Allegiance With China and India

It is not surprising that the foreigner imports are mostly from China and India. These two countries are known to be the super powers of the near future. They will dominant the world’s economy and Singapore wants to be on right terms with them now.

By importing workers from these two countries, we have formed a close allegiance with these two countries and hopefully there will be business ties in future. Already, I have heard of how Indian businesses flourishing here as a result of their ability to hire their own kind to work with them. If not, they will prefer not to set up shop here. Some nationalities just could not work along well with workers from other countries.

It is also seen as a bilateral advantage if our country can provide jobs to other countries’ citizens in this tough economic condition. It is for this reason that within Asean, Singapore is highly regarded. When their own country could not provide enough employment to their own citizens, in step Singapore with offers of hundreds of thousands of jobs. The only problem is that for every job given out to a foreigner, it is one loss for our local kind.

Conclusion

The government has promised to slow down the intake of foreign workers in the near future to appease a furious local population. However, the more than one million foreigners already in our midst has robbed the locals of much space and employment. Many are still jobless or under-employed. It may not take long before we witness incidents of violence against foreign workers who are seem as snatchers of what that are rightfully ours.

Reader Feedback

26 Responses to “Eight Reasons Why Foreign Workers Are Preferred Over Local Ones”

I don’t see the problem easing… look at what the public service is doing… trying to get Singaporeans & PR’s overseas to work for them -

“The Public Service Division and Contact Singapore will be organising a “Careers@Home: Public Service” at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel. A variety of public sector employers such as the Economic Development Board, Infocomm Development Authority, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade and Industry, with career opportunities for Singaporeans and PRs who are keen to join the public service.

you can thank this exploitation of foreign labour, which has brought your country’s standard of living to where it is right now. your country exploits the indignity of peoples elsewhere to fuel your “dynamic economy”. i don’t know, but it seems to me that almost every other singaporean i know is doing doing a degree of some sort. hell, i don’t know but is it normal for a degree holder to earn twice more than a diploma holder – for doing EXACTLY the same job with the SAME TITLE in THE SAME company? oh sorry i didn’t know, it just surpasses my logical capacity.

Hi Gilbert, I think most Singaporeans who have lived here long enough or even have a rough idea of what is going on outside of the cars they drive or the condominiums they live in (that’s only a minority I hope for those who cannot see the people on the ‘grounds’) would agree that population mass does not necessarily equate better working conditions and a better quality of life. Our wages have been suppressed and kept low while some companies marginalize locals in certain ways so as to keep profits high.

The last few months since I was back from overseas, I noticed that there were a lot of mainland Chinese and Malaysians having PR status here. While I have nothing against them, and see that most of them make honest livings working hard, the real problem lies with the inherent policy applied by authorities and also some Singaporean companies (not a few to begin with) towards employing foreigners. The question of whether they cause social problems in their failure to integrate has already been an outstanding problem, but I don’t think that the government has technically solved that to satisfaction. Even people I know who are pro-establishment complain enough about the excess influx, such that I wonder what Singaporeans are doing anyway to try stemming such rampant ‘abuses’ of the permit system. For example, at times when coming back from part-time work, I noticed that there were lots of construction workers lingering around the bus stops near the MRT station, or sleeping in the void deck without much of a care for social propriety or even rules against doing so. Those companies using them bring them in hordes but often do not provide sound or good living conditions for them, which leads them to get out and to do certain things such as finding prostitutes or bargirls for a one-night sleepover(the way Crime Watch covers it), dirtying and messing up the makeshift living quarters, and so on.

Agree that cost is a main consideration. However, we should look deeper into the cost issue. If one says that foreigners are cheaper, the other side of the coin is to ask why Singapore citizens are so expensive. Are Singaporeans really demand such exorbitant pay?

I think the answer is obvious. With the high cost of living, you need a certain level of salary to live decently. And I am not talking about driving a Lexus or staying in a condo. Then one will argue that a foreigner living in Singapore is also faced with the high cost of living and yet he/she can live with lower pay. I beg to differ. There are expenses that are not applicable to a foreigner. For example, a foreigner can co-share a flat with other foreigners, this brings down the rental expenses to S$300 – S$500 per month. On the other hand, a Singaporean citizen has to pay the high monthly installemnt for loan on his/her overpriced HDB flat which can hit S$1000 a month. Second, a foreginer need not bear the cost of raising a child in Singapore. Further, by sending the pay home, the pay multiplies due to exchange rate different. For example, a PRC need to send S$250 of his pay home and that becomes RMB1000. And with that RMB1000, you can live quite comfortablely in some of the secondary cities in China. Can a Singaporean couple with kids do that in Singapore? Again the answer is obvious.

There are hidden costs as well to employing a Singapore citizen. As pointed out in earlier comments, CPF is one of them and for guys, you have the in-camp training, RT/IPT (which the recent change has worsen the situation) and other NS commitments. All these jerk up the cost of hiring a Singapore citizen.

i dont really agree with the “singaporeans talking back” part. one of the heads in the foreign talent programme said that singaporeans are not preferred because they “do not challenge higher authority”.

There is another profitable reason for employers to hire foreigners instead of Singaporeans. Kickbacks. For instance, an S pass holder has a minimum wage of $2000 a mth now, and the employer has to bank that amount into the foreigners bank account to prove ot the authorities that he is following regulations. But later the foreigner has to withdraw some money to return to the employer. The kickbacks may range from a few hundred dollars to much more. Even after paying kickbacks the foreigner is able to earn a few times what he is able to get back home for the same job; that is if he is able to get a job in the first place.

In essence the foreigner is bribing his employer to remain employed, but it is economically viable for him to do so. A Singaporean already has some money deducted from his salary for CPF. If he pays kickbacks, how will he be able to afford paying for his overpriced property mortgage?

I totally agree with what you said because i have seen so many India foreign workers who cant speak english, no PC knowledge nor proper qualification but they are holding a PR..How isit possible?India is famous for bribery, but i did not expect this bribery will be carried out here in Singapore as well.More India foreigners are infesting Singapore and they are carrying out their foreign habits here as well.I hope the Government steps in to see to this matter if not Singapore will just like India..taking bribes…

Forgeiners who are educated do not know how to read when it comes to MRT seats for the reserved.They purposely pretend to sleep when they see old people or pregnant ladies alighting.Uneducated barbarians is what we Singaporeans call foreigners gonna behave like this…U people are greedy for money but that doesn’t mean u people can rule our country.The cubicle will smell fresh with locals when a India foreigner steps in, and the whole cubicle stinks like shit.I think India foreigners pls be advised,when you people step in to Singapore,buy tonnes of perfumes..

This is where an interesting debate becomes illogical and irrelevant.
1. Foreigners does not mean Indians only. We have quite a few foreigners from Western countries (and China?). Their average incomes are much higher than our ‘smart and well-educated’ Singaporeans. They still are preferred if their experience and knowledge is more in-line with the jobs.
2. Personal hygiene is not a criteria for employment. Flowery smells do not improve construction efficiency.
3. Please clarify if high-income foreigners are also included in your argument. If not, then this is only a rant about construction workers from South Asia: much smaller pool than you make it out to be.

Please keep your arguments logical. Personal attacks on a specific section of society only breeds hatred, and makes people even less likely to listen to you.

Have you ever been worked under hot sun? don’t you know that Indian construction worker who smells like shit had worked under hot sun for the whole day, to let Singaporeans sits inside air conditioned room for $15 pay per day. Please work a whole day under sun before making such comments.Even after you talk in the same way then you are not a human being…

Its like you read my mind! You appear to grasp so much about this, such as you wrote the e-book in it or something. I think that you simply can do with a few p.c. to drive the message house a little bit, however other than that, that is wonderful blog. A great read. I will certainly be back.

Singaporeans are really lazy. The only thing Singaporeans are able to boast about is their paper qualifications and nothing else. Moreover, Singaporeans only look forward to skive if opportunity arises and yet demand for high pay because of their paper qualifications. Employers may not want to hire Singaporeans due to their incompetancy which is why most employers are looking foward to bring in more foreigners. Also government should bring in more foreign investors and companies to add value to our country and kick out more Ali baba local companies. These local companies are just here to leech on government schemes which is not what the government wants. Thus, in a long term, bringing in more foreigners is a wise choice coming from the government.

I am a Singaporean. I have paper qualifications. In order to survive, I have worked as warehouse assistant, shipping assistant, retail executive, kitchen helper, security guard…..etc. Do I consider as diligent or still lazy?

In China or India, many employees also look forward to skive if opportunity arises and demand for high pay because of their paper qualifications too.

In S’pore, there are still quite an amount of local companies striving to stay on the business. Try setting up your business in S’pore & see tough or easy is it to survive.

In the past, PAP only interested in GDP & bringing in more foreigners is a wise choice which they though so. But this is not what most S’poreans wants. As a government of a country, it needs to listen to its people. Bhutan, the country which has one of the highest happiness indexes but low GDP, drove out foreigners, the Nepalese from its country to make sure Bhutan belongs to Bhutanese.

warehouse assistant, shipping assistant, retail executive, kitchen helper, security guard…..etc.<—- This is a job where foreigners are filling in because companies don't need people with high paper qualifications to fill in such positions. In other words, paper qualification is just another toilet paper people spent heavily on and regret after when they are in a huge debt to pay off education loans.

Why compare Bhutan which is rich in natural resources to a country dependant on its neighbours to survive. Thus, such comparison is not viable to discuss on the reliance of foreign talents. Moreover, bhutanese govt is a welfare one because the country sustain on their natural resources.

Companies are striving to stay on this business because they have thrashy Singaporeans working in such companies. Most Singaporeans like to sweep their dirt under carpet if they screw up their own work. Moreover, there are various schemes to help companies tide their financial situations. Bosses' focus is to run the business. The employees should be responsible enought to contribute to the company. The problem with Singaporeans is they are damn lazy and ask for higher pay because of their paper qualifications. No initiative too. They always ask what the company can offer them before they even perform on the job. Singaporeans are better off in civil service than in private sector.

In India and China, they skive because that is their lifestyle in their country. When they come here, they have no choice but to slog because they have commitments to make ends meet, which is the reason behind employers employing them. They have X factors which makes them worthier than Singaporeans.

If S’pore has minimum wages policy, I am quite sure many locals would take up jobs like warehouse assistant, shipping assistant, retail executive, kitchen helper, security guard…..etc. Some foreigners filling in these positions do also have high paper qualifications. You may want to check with Watsons.

I do sometimes felt paper qualification is just another toilet paper people spent heavily on and regret after when I am in a huge debt to pay off education loans. That’s why Spore must stop building more polys & universities; stop promoting WSQ courses; stop influx of foreigners; implement minimum wages policy.

I don’t think Bhutan is rich in natural resources & the country is sustaining on their natural resources. What natural resources does Bhutan has? Gold, copper, oil or rare earth? For what I knew, it is their forests. Because of the over- congested population, influx of foreigners, high priced houses & increasing number of cars etc. Many trees in S’pore are being chopped down, greenery are disappearing fast. Every time when I saw the disappearing greenery at Lentor Ave & Yishun central, it make me felt sad.

S’pore don’t have to depend on its neighbours to survive. S’pore should learn from Bhutan to expel the foreigners if it needs to. If don’t want to expel then also must control the influx too. Nepalese brought in businesses into Bhutan but Bhutan decided to forsake GDP & promote gross national happiness because this is what the Bhutanese want. S’pore should learn from Bhutan.

When you said “Companies are striving to stay on this business because they have thrashy Singaporeans working in such companies. Most Singaporeans like to sweep their dirt under carpet if they screw up their own work.”, can you please provide some reliable statistics information on this? If not, next time maybe you want to say “ALL Singaporeans like to sweep their dirt under carpet if they screw up their own work.”

Employees will contribute to the company if they are paid with reasonable wages & given respect from the employers. There is nothing wrong for any job seeker regardless whether is he/she is S’porean or foreigner to request for higher wage if they felt that he/she has better paper qualification or working experience than others. It is also not wrong that a job seeker to ask what the company can offer them before they even perform on the job, if not then how would they know whether the job or the company is suitable for the job seeker or not. This greatly concerns the future of the job seeker.

We worked for the money, not for fun.

When a client paid for the service or product provided by the company, the company is a provider or supplier. When a company employed you, you are just a service provider that gets paid for the service you can provide to the company that employed you. Even if you want to contribute or already contributing to the bosses for years. What makes you think that the bosses will definitely keep you around in the company & will not retrench you oneday?

Basically, there are two types of foreigners that came to S’pore to work or study. The riches & the poors. The poors have no choice but to slog because they have paid a lot of money thru agencies to come work or study here but many later felt cheated. We don’t want them to waste their money & have broken dreams, so we can stop them from coming here to prevent all these.

If you want to see how the rich foreigners behave, let me recommend you places like Tanglin road, Grange road, bukit timah, Jervois Rd & river valley road. When you stopped the foreign students from entering the school compound in hua zhong institution due to improper attire, the PRC students will offered you money & request you to step aside. When you asked the middle east region foreign residences in st regis residences to stop drinking & dancing in the lounge, informing them the booking hours is over & it is late in the night. They shouted at you & gave you money, asked you to go away. The X factors which makes them worthier than Singaporeans is just the wealth they brought into the country.

I’m utterly disappointed after running my eyes over this page. This has become a host of racists. I accept the facts India is not richer than Singapore, It has mediocre life style than these well developed countries. But people (not only Indians) are not here just to rob money from locals. Please ask your government to ask foreigners to leave the country and you will find very few left to get their status (PR, EP or other) revoked. I Love Singapore but we also love our motherland (We dont stink). We love people of our own country, but among all we love humen. Forgive me for my English, if it’s bad. My education didnt teach me any better than this. Thank you all.

No, we are not racist. If you truly have the skills and are better, we welcome you and and learn from you. However, the majority of the alleged foreign talent from India and China lack the basic skills required to perform in their jobs. makes one wonder how they obtained their qualifications and employment passes in the first place. And it is these incompetent nicompoops who are forcing out local employees.Hence the anger and resentment.

Thanks God, I came through this page. I was planning to join Real Estate in Singapore but now I have cancelled my plan. You people are burning out and any time this fire can burn foreigners living in Singapore. It has really changed all my image towards Singaporean. I am currently living in Dubai where locals is even less 20% of the total population but they never complained about the foreigner and always say welcome to coming for work in their country. More than 30% if the foreign workers are Indian but nobody hates them or complains that they take taken their job. In the end it depends on the person that who is eligible for a job. It does not matter whether you are local or foreigner, you must be competent to your work. If Singaporean are better eligible for a job then they should get it and no foreigner can take their role. I think it is better to look into yourself that what are major reason that employer prefer foreigner to work not only for low cast or salaries. Thanks

Employers & business owners refuse or delay in improving processes in their companies. They stubbornly refuse to upgrade systems or adapt business models that require low grade manpower into high grade ones.

They do not adapt because our Gov is controlled by business owners themselves!..

Just ask yourselves:

Who are the owners, operators of Food Courts, Logistics, Waste managements, Transport industries?